Cw Art Gallery Rainstorm Damage Totals $1.5 Million

September 07, 1989|By MARK DI VINCENZO Staff Writer

WILLIAMSBURG — Colonial Williamsburg officials were faced with a dilemma of sorts in 1982, when they were shown the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Gallery layout, which included an underground level where an auditorium would be and a few exhibits displayed.

Although the potential for flooding troubled many, the design made sense: The $15 million building, which opened in June 1985, blends in with others in the nearby Historic Area; it is accessible to the handicapped; and its layout makes it easy to move objects around.

The latter design feature was tested last month, when a foot of rain fell on Williamsburg and flooded many houses and businesses as well as the gallery's lower level. The gallery will be closed until January, said Beatrix T. Rumford, CW's vice president of museums.

Sources familiar with the damage say total flood damage to CW properties is nearly $2 million, with about $1.5 million at the gallery. CW's bill is $100,000, the deductible on its insurance policy, said Albert O. Louer, a CW spokesman.

CW officials will discuss the extent of the damage, the cost to repair it and measures that will be taken to prevent further problems at a meeting with reporters this morning.

The gallery contains English and American 17th-, 18th- and 19th-century decorative arts, which include furniture, ceramics, paintings, prints, costumes and other domestic objects.

The damage was confined to the gallery's lower level, which houses the 200-seat Hennage Auditorium, a gift shop, a restaurant, a storage area and an "orientation gallery," with several small exhibits.

Louer said oak floors, carpeting and display cases will be replaced and the Hennage Auditorium will undergo major renovation. The seats, the stage and the stage's curtains will be replaced, as will some of the auditorium's audio and visual equipment. Art on display was not damaged.

Most of the water entered the building through a fresh-air vent and poured into a room where heating and air conditioning units are located, Louer said. After three to four feet of water filled the room, it rushed into the gallery's lower level, knocking down a three-foot partition and flooding it with three to four inches of water.

Meanwhile, water was flooding the auditorium, which dips to the gallery's lowest point. At one point during the storm, water covered a few rows of seats and even rose above the stage.

More water entered through a back door and a loading dock. CW workers carried objects from four lower-level exhibits to the main floor.

"The water had no place to go," Louer said.

Later that day, CW officials who had reservations about building an art gallery with a basement level were saying "I told you so" to anyone who would listen.

Connecticut architect Kevin Roche, who designed the gallery and, among other things, the exhibition gallery below the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the passenger terminal at Dulles International Airport near Washington, would not return calls Tuesday and Wednesday. His secretary referred all gallery-related inquiries to CW officials.

But in previous interviews, Roche has defended the design of the gallery and of the Winthrop Rockefeller Archaeological Museum, which is being built into a hill overlooking the James River and will exhibit 17th-century artifacts discovered near there.

Rumford also defended the design, stressing that most of the exhibits are on the main floor and calling the Aug. 18 downpour a "freak storm." She said work has begun to increase drainage capabilities around the gallery.

In the past, the building has withstood "minor flooding" during heavy rains, Louer said. The building has leaks, most of which have been fixed, he said.

"People did not design this building unaware of potential water problems," Louer said. "Not every possibility was covered. In the opinion of the experts, it was possible to build a building one level below ground and have it be effective. You don't always know how a building will react to a natural disaster."